I'm Not Ready To Be Done

I wanted to write more while I was in Taiwan, but time and exhaustion being what they are I just didn't manage to do it. So even though I've been home for almost a week, I'm not ready to be finished with the Taiwan posts yet.

We couldn't all go in one gondola, so here is the rest of our group.

The day we went sightseeing ended up being gorgeous! We rode the Maokong gondola cable cars up the mountain to this adorable little village with breathtaking views. We went to a restaurant that one of the ladies from the orphanage recommended and we all loved the food! Sitting out on a veranda eating delicious food and sipping tea looking out over the mountains with Taipei 101 in the distance was an experience I would recommend to anyone.

These candied strawberries were amazing!

They added tea leaves to most of the dishes.

Dragon beard vegetables 

We ordered a pot of tea and then requested a refill. The man carrying the tea pots just came and replaced our tea pot with a full one. When Gongzhan asked him what kind was in the full pot he just waved his hand and said, "It is the same!" It wasn't, but he obviously did not think the stupid Americans would know the difference.

The gondola we took both up the mountain and back down had a glass floor. Weirdly it wasn't as scary as it sounds, though it could be a little bit concerning if you thought about it too much. Mostly it was just awesome to see everything from that vantage point.

On our way back down the mountain we stopped at the Taipei zoo. It cost about $2.50 USD to get in and was so beautiful! There were orchids growing on the trees everywhere. We didn't have a lot of time there, but did see a few animals, including pandas, so it everyone was satisfied.

From there we took the metro to an underground market. By then I was so exhausted I thought I couldn't keep going, but I found some cute little socks to bring home to Annika, so that was fun.

The metro was really crowded!

It was the most tiring day of the trip and I almost skipped going and stayed at the hotel because I thought it might be that way, but I would have missed out on so much if I had.